Working Group VI's core thematic areas are governance, leadership and public management. The studying of these topics is significant for public sector departments and for the academic fraternity.
"Good governance" denotes the nature of the relationship between the state and civil society and situates public participation within a modern democracy. It has implications that extend beyond the institutional arrangements that are the focus of policy and program design. When governments, governmental agencies and public bodies work to solve challenging social problems or provide essential public services, "good governance determines the outcomes and final success.
The complexity of the current political, economic and cultural changes along with advancement in technology requires a significant amount of planning and bold leadership within the public sector. Modern government signifies a varying mixture of Weberian bureaucracy, New Public Management, and New Public Governance. This dynamic theme set the scene for a new type of leaders- the 21st century leaders (those who inter alia set a vision/mission and empower others to help achieve that) became central role players for good governance. Ethical leadership, peace leadership are amongst the variable that dictate good governance.
Governmental ministries, departments, agencies, public bodies and their personnel are called to adapt and perform in more and more complex environment. To respond to the current challenges, their core functions such as managing people, managing financial resources, and managing information continue to evolve and develop. Public sector management and its subsystems have to contribute to effective governance - however, to achieve this synergy in real practice is not simple, also because of many "wicked" problems involved. Public managers (who actively and continuously implement plans in order to achieve objectives) are central players in dealing with such problems.